Miami Medical Malpractice Attorney

Helping Victims of Medical Malpractice Throughout the State of Florida

All too often people in Florida and throughout the U.S. are injured by the doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers they trust to care for their health and well-being. Tragically, medical errors cause more than 250,000 deaths or approximately 10% of all pre-pandemic deaths in the U.S. each year, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This is in addition to the thousands of serious non-fatal injuries negligent doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals cause each year.

In Florida, more than 3,000 people are injured by medical malpractice each year, making it the state with the third highest number of cases in the country, according to data in the National Practitioner Data Bank. The reality of so many innocent people losing a limb, becoming paralyzed, suffering from brain damage or being fatally injured because doctors or other healthcare providers make preventable errors is truly tragic and unacceptable.

The Miami medical malpractice attorneys of Boyers Law Group believe those injured by medical malpractice deserve justice and the full substantial compensation Florida law allows. We are committed to holding negligent doctors and other healthcare providers accountable for the harm they inflict on patients and their families. Over the years, we have successfully litigated a wide variety of medical negligence cases and have achieved millions of dollars of compensation for the seriously injured patients and families whom we have had the privilege of representing. We would be honored to talk with you about a potential medical malpractice claim and help in any way we can.

What Is Medical Malpractice in Florida?

According to Section 766.102, Florida Statutes, medical malpractice occurs when healthcare professionals breach the prevailing standard of care owed to their patients. In other words, when a doctor, nurse or other healthcare provider is negligent and fails to act as a reasonably prudent medical provider practicing in the same or a similar field of specialty would act and causes a patient to suffer serious injury or wrongful death, the doctor, nurse or hospital may be held legally responsible for inflicting harm on their patients.

Unfortunately, there are numerous types of malpractice that negligent healthcare providers commit all the time. Doctor error, nursing error, radiologist error, medical technician or hospital error can, for example, result in many different types of medical malpractice, including:

• Anesthesia Errors/Anesthesia Malpractice – Anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists have a grave responsibility in making sure that a patient is medically stable and fit for non-emergency surgery and stable throughout emergency surgery, as well as monitoring and helping to regulate heart and respiratory functions during any surgery under general anesthesia. When anesthesiologists are negligent and commit malpractice, the consequences are usually very serious. Anesthesia errors can result in a multitude of problems including, among others, brain damage, nerve damage, cardiac injury, stroke and death.
• Birth Injury Malpractice/Obstetrical Malpractice – When doctors and nurses do not monitor expectant mothers and their babies closely during pregnancy, labor, delivery and immediately after delivery or mismanage the labor and delivery of a baby, serious injuries with lifelong consequences can occur. A medical malpractice claim can hold negligent doctors and nurses liable for all the damages resulting from their negligence.
• Blood Transfusion Errors – Blood transfusion errors occur for many reasons. When doctors, nurses and hospitals cause a preventable blood transfusion error, patients can be seriously, even fatally, injured. The at-fault healthcare providers can and should be held legally responsible.
• Failing to Listen to the Patient –Taking a complete medical history from a patient is critical to making an accurate diagnosis. If doctors do not listen to you or do not take a complete medical history and you are harmed as a result, they could be held liable for medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose or a Delay in Diagnosing a Medical Condition – Doctors should listen to their patients, examine them carefully and order appropriate tests, depending on the presenting signs and symptoms. If doctors are negligent in these areas and their delay or failure to diagnose a medical condition harms a patient, the doctor could be liable for medical malpractice.  Sadly common examples of such cases include delay in diagnosing and treating infections, a spinal epidural abscess, stroke, internal bleeding, internal organ injury and cancer.
• Failure to Diagnose Aneurysms – Early detection and treatment greatly improve a patient’s chances of surviving an aneurysm. Doctors can be liable for medical malpractice when they fail to diagnose aneurysms or aortic dissections.
• Failure to Diagnose or a Delay in Diagnosing Cancer – When a doctor fails to listen to a patient’s health concerns, fails to do a complete physical exam, fails to order necessary diagnostic tests or fails to examine test results, patients can require life-altering medical interventions to treat their cancer and face a poor prognosis. The negligent doctor could potentially be held liable for medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose Heart Attacks and Strokes – When doctors and nurses miss the clear signs and symptoms of heart attacks or strokes and fail to give patients the emergency care they need, major injury or death can occur. The negligent doctors and nurses can be liable for the resulting harm due to medical malpractice.
• Failure to Diagnose or a Delay in Diagnosing Infections – When doctors do not promptly diagnose and treat an infection, patients can suffer with pain, fever and other symptoms. If doctors totally miss diagnosing an infection in a timely manner, patients can suffer from sepsis and septic shock and experience life-threatening conditions, such as kidney failure, toxic shock syndrome, necrotizing fasciitis, internal organ injury, spinal, brain or cardiac injury.
• Operative Errors/Surgeon Malpractice – There are inherent risks in surgery, even when performed properly. However, when surgeons and surgery teams do not do everything possible to avoid increasing the risks of surgery or cause internal injuries, their negligence and errors can cause lifelong or fatal harm.
• Wrong Side Surgery – When surgeons operate on the wrong body part or wrong side of the body, (e.g. orthopedic surgeons cutting open the right leg when surgery was supposed to be on the left leg; brain surgeons cutting open the left side of the brain when the tumor is on the right side; surgeons removing the wrong breast of a woman suffering from breast cancer) patients can suffer major injury.
• Retained Medical Instrument or Devices – When foreign objects are left inside patients after surgery, great harm can result. Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and the entire surgical team may be found liable for negligence when this unfortunate but preventable event occurs.
• Failing to Properly Monitor the Patient Post-Operatively – When patients are not closely monitored after surgery, terrible harm may occur. Healthcare providers have an obligation to observe and listen to their patients, monitor their vital signs and study lab results in order to prevent or treat serious problems and complications. If they fail to properly monitor their patients following surgery and problems do occur, they could be found liable for medical negligence.
• Falls in Hospitals – According to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, approximately 700,000 to 1 million patients fall each year while in the hospital, and more than one-third of them are injured by the fall. Their injuries include head trauma, bone fractures and other potentially life-threatening injuries. Hospital patients who fall, whether seriously injured or not, may experience psychological trauma that can have a negative impact on their overall health. Those who are injured due to preventable falls in the hospital have the right to hold the hospital liable for their injuries.
• Kidney Dialysis Errors – Each year, people die or are injured unnecessarily due to negligence or medical errors committed during their treatment for kidney disease. Medication errors, falling, vascular access-related events, dialyzer errors, excess blood loss, malfunctioning or improperly cared for dialysis machines, improper responses to machine alarms, dialysate errors and failing to monitor blood pressure are all examples of medical malpractice that injures kidney dialysis patients.
• Medical Device Defects or Failures/Negligent Maintenance of Monitoring Devices or Other Medical Machinery – When medical devices are inserted improperly or not maintained properly or when a surgeon does not follow a manufacturer’s instructions or warnings and a patient is injured, a malpractice action may be appropriate. When a medical device malfunctions due to a defect in the device, a product liability action may be advisable.
• Medication Errors/Medication Malpractice – Medication errors can cause severe adverse reactions and complications. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured by a medication error, you may be able to hold the responsible parties accountable for their negligence and get compensated for your injuries with a medical malpractice claim.
• Nursing Negligence/Nurse Malpractice – Nurses have an obligation to properly carry out doctors’ orders, administer medication and therapies, observe and listen to patients and report their observations promptly and accurately, calling doctors when needed. If nurses are not vigilant, patients suffer. When this suffering results in a serious injury, the negligent nurse may be held liable for medical malpractice.
• Orthopedist Malpractice – When orthopedic surgeons make mistakes, patients can suffer irreparable damage. Failing to diagnose and treat fractured bones, tendon ruptures, cartilage or ligament tears, nerve compression or nerve impingement, for example, can result in serious physical problems, as can incorrect placement of orthopedic hardware and casts. When orthopedists make these kinds of mistakes, they should be held accountable for medical malpractice.
• Radiologist Error/Radiologist Malpractice – When radiologists misinterpret x-rays, mammograms, CT scans and MRI’s, among other radiological scans, patients can suffer serious or deadly consequences. If a radiologist’s misinterpretation results in a misdiagnosis that has serious health consequences for a patient, the radiologist may be liable for medical malpractice.

What Financial Compensation Can Victims of Medical Malpractice Receive in Florida?

A financial award or settlement can never truly compensate a victim for the physical and emotional suffering caused by a serious medical malpractice injury, nor can it compensate a family for the loss of a loved one. However, a medical malpractice lawsuit can enable you to hold the person or persons responsible for the harm accountable for their negligence and enable you to obtain substantial compensation for all you have suffered and lost.

Each medical malpractice is unique, and the amount of financial compensation you may be able to obtain depends on many different factors; however, in general, you may be entitled to substantial compensation for:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Mental anguish, stress, anxiety
• Diminished capacity to enjoy life
• Inconvenience
• Existing and potential future medical expenses for hospital stays, surgical procedures, office visits, medical equipment, medications, etc.
• Lost income
• Diminished earning capacity
• Your family’s loss of companionship, guidance and assistance
• Other damages recoverable under Florida law

The experienced attorneys of Boyers Law Group understand the many ways medical malpractice injuries can impact your health, well-being, financial situation and your family and will put our experience, skill and resources to work for you to secure the substantial compensation you deserve.

Florida Medical Malpractice Cases

Florida medical malpractice cases can be very complex. To prove that a doctor and/or other healthcare professionals breached the prevailing professional standard of care and then demonstrate that the breach seriously injured you requires an intensive investigation into, and a thorough understanding of, the facts of the case, top flight expert testimony, proficient use of the civil discovery process and expertise as a trial lawyer.

Boyers Law Group medical malpractice attorneys have the expertise, skill and resources necessary to successfully represent clients throughout Florida who have been seriously injured by medical negligence and errors. Our legal team leverages our extensive knowledge, skills and substantial resources to hold negligent physicians and other healthcare providers accountable and achieve full substantial compensation for our clients.

We have experience with many different kinds of Florida medical malpractice cases, including:

Florida Birth Injury Malpractice

Birth injuries can be devastating. When parents discover their child has been injured by medical malpractice and come to us for help, we work tirelessly to gather the evidence needed to demonstrate that the physician’s and/or other healthcare providers’ care was below the prevailing standard of care and that their substandard care/medical negligence caused the injury.

Whether your child has Erb’s palsy, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral palsy or another type of injury, we dig into all the information on the case to make sure we have the evidence necessary to achieve the substantial compensation you need to provide the care your child requires and compensate you for the pain, suffering and losses your family has suffered and may suffer in the future.

Florida Diagnostic Error Malpractice

Many medical malpractice lawsuits involve diagnostic errors, including failing to diagnose, delaying diagnosis and misdiagnosing medical conditions. To prove that harmful diagnostic errors occurred, we gather thorough evidence demonstrating that our clients suffered more than they would have had the correct diagnosis occurred earlier.

We also must prove that most physicians would have at least considered the correct condition based on the symptoms presented and ordered diagnostic testing to confirm or rule it out. For example, if a patient complained of severe abdominal pain and a physician did not consider appendicitis, we would show that most doctors would have thought of appendicitis as a possible cause of the pain and ordered diagnostic testing to confirm or rule it out.

In some cases, diagnostic testing is ordered, but radiological images or scans are not interpreted correctly. Bone infections, tumors, bone fractures, bowel obstructions and other serious conditions can be completely missed or misinterpreted. In cases of radiology malpractice like this, patients suffer when they are given the wrong treatment or no treatment.

In misdiagnosis cases, there are typically one of two outcomes: either the treatment given caused harm or failure to provide the appropriate treatment caused the disease to progress further, as in cancer misdiagnosis cases, where months or even weeks without the correct treatment can result in the cancer progressing beyond the stage where it can be treated effectively. In either instance, the Boyers Law Group medical malpractice attorneys will work diligently to prove the diagnostic error was medical malpractice and the injured patient deserves substantial compensation for all of the damages suffered.

Florida Emergency Room Error Malpractice

Emergency room care is substantially different from care provided in other healthcare environments: the doctor-patient relationship is short-term and unreliable; communication is fragmented; interruptions occur frequently; and information is often incomplete. These factors often lead to errors that can result in a failure to diagnose a serious condition, a harmful misdiagnosis or a harmful premature discharge.

An emergency room error by itself does not necessarily constitute medical malpractice. However, if the error results in a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose a potentially serious medical problem that a careful healthcare provider with the same experience and training would have diagnosed accurately in the same or similar situation and the patient was discharged without receiving appropriate treatment and then suffered harm, (as in a undiagnosed bowel obstruction, stroke or heart attack), the emergency room error can, in some cases, be considered medical malpractice.  However, where the care was truly emergent, Florida law requires the plaintiff to prove not just that the ER medical care providers were negligent, the plaintiff must prove the providers were reckless.

Florida Surgical Error Malpractice

Surgical errors can occur because of doctors’ incompetence, insufficient planning for the surgical procedure, improper processes during the procedure, miscommunication, drug or alcohol impairment, neglect, rushing to complete procedures, fatigue or other human factors.

A surgical error alone does not constitute medical malpractice; however, when surgical errors occur because of substandard, negligent care from a doctor and/or surgical team cause harm to a patient, the errors may be considered medical malpractice. To determine whether the care provided was substandard and negligent, we investigate thoroughly to make sure it did not meet the level of care and attention a reasonably prudent healthcare provider practicing in the same field of medicine would have provided in the same or similar situation. We then pursue full, fiar compensation for all of the damages our injured clients have suffered.

Florida Hospital Malpractice Claims

According to Florida Statutes, section 766.110, Florida healthcare facilities have a duty to ensure that all of their medical personnel and staff are appropriately trained and competent and that there are comprehensive risk management procedures in place. Furthermore, if healthcare facilities fail to uphold this legal duty and their failure causes harm to a patient, they can be held liable for medical malpractice. For example, if patients are injured by defective equipment, by a blood transfusion error, by substandard nursing care, by falling when being moved or hurt in another way by a hospital employee, they may be able to hold the hospital liable for damages.

Proving that a hospital or other healthcare facility was responsible for a patient being injured can be very complicated, but our medical malpractice attorneys are persistent in the pursuit of justice. We tirelessly investigate all the facts of the case, enlist the help of top-quality expert witnesses, make sure we completely understand what happened and can prove the hospital’s breach of duty led to our client’s injury and leverage our litigation expertise to obtain substantial compensation for our clients.

Florida Medication Error Malpractice

A recent report on medication errors notes that each year in the U.S., 7,000 to 9,000 people die and hundreds of thousands of other patients experience adverse reactions or other problems as a result of medication errors. These medication errors can be considered medical malpractice when they occur because healthcare providers are negligent and fail to provide the same quality of care other reasonably prudent healthcare professionals in a similar professional capacity would have provided in similar circumstances

The Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Cases in Florida

In Florida, the statute of limitations allows you to file a medical malpractice claim within two years of the date the malpractice occurred, was discovered or should have been discovered. The latest date allowed for the discovery of malpractice is four years from the date the negligent incident occurred.

If you have been injured because of a surgical error, diagnostic error, emergency room error, medication error or other type of medical malpractice, you should not delay discussing your case with a trusted Florida medical malpractice attorney. The requirements for medical malpractice cases are complicated and getting started early can help your legal team amass the evidence necessary to hold the negligent healthcare provider(s) accountable and obtain the substantial compensation you deserve.

Our Commitment to Florida Medical Malpractice Victims

Medical malpractice cases are usually very complex. Proving that a doctor, nurse or other healthcare provider was negligent and breached the accepted standard of care requires relentless investigation, total command of the facts of each case, top flight expert testimony and determined, thorough use of the civil discovery process and tools at the trial lawyer’s disposal.

In order to amass the evidence necessary to prevail in malpractice cases, our experienced legal team is committed to leaving no stone unturned. We take detailed, rigorous depositions of the defendants and adverse experts, make exhaustive requests for key documents, send well-crafted written interrogatories to the defendants, and work with top experts in every medical specialty.

Our skilled lawyers, paralegals and medical investigators work together as a team to achieve the best possible results at trial or to achieve a very favorable settlement for our clients. One of our partners serves as lead counsel on every Florida malpractice case we handle, and we use all of our firm’s experience, talent, hard work and resources to prove that the healthcare defendants are wrong and our clients are right and justly entitled to a substantial compensatory verdict in their favor.

Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys with the Trial Experience You Need and Results You Want

If you or a family member has been seriously injured by medical malpractice, you need a skilled trial attorney with successful experience in litigating, trying and effectively negotiating top settlements in medical malpractice cases. At Boyers Law Group, we are committed to putting our experience, knowledge, skill and resources to work for you, fighting vigorously to hold the healthcare providers accountable for negligence in order to obtain the substantial compensation you deserve.

We feel a deep sense of responsibility to each client because we know that if you come to us for help, you have suffered a terrible loss and deserve answers and all the compensation the law will allow. Please call us at 866-856-1132 or submit the “Tell Us What Happened” form on our website to get expert advice from an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney.